legal act

The concept of act finds its origin in the Latin word actus and is associated with the notion of action, understood as the possibility or the result of doing something. A legal actIn this sense, it constitutes an action that is carried out consciously and voluntarily with the purpose of establishing legal links between various people to create, modify or extinguish certain rights.

Legal acts are based on the expression of a will.

The importance of the will

In other words, it can be said that a legal act is a manifestation of will whose purpose is to provoke legal consequences. These results are recognized through the legal system.

The basis of the legal act, then, is made up of the declaration of will, which must be aware of the effects that the first will have, according to what is stipulated in the laws. The legal act seeks a variation in the state of things and causes the aforementioned legal consequences.

Types of legal act

It should be noted that there are multiple classifications for legal acts. They may be formal (in which the effectiveness is tied to the formalities established and contemplated by law), although others may be not formal (in them, its possible validity does not depend on the solemnity).

There are also legal acts positive (its success depends on the performance of the act), negative (they imply an omission or abstention), unilateral (they arise by the will of a single party), bilateral (require the consent of a minimum of two parties), patrimonial (of economic content), relatives (Rights and family duties), free (the obligation falls on a single party, no matter how many are involved) and burdensome (reciprocal obligations), among other types.

Differences with legal facts

It is important to make distinctions between the concepts of legal act and legal fact. A legal fact constitutes a natural event characterized by not need the intervention of the will to appreciate consequences of law, while a legal act, as we have said previously, needs approval; that is, it must meet certain conditions to be able to oblige the compliance of the rights by the parties that carry it out. Both the act and the legal fact are the forms of realization of the legal assumptions.

The effects of legal acts are established by law.

For a legal act to exist as such, that is, the expression of the Will of the person who performs it is protected by the Law, it is necessary to gather a series of elements of existence and validity.

The elements of existence are essential and therefore if one of them is missing, the act could not be defined as such and, how would the act act? nullity absolute, could not produce any consequence or legal effect. These essential elements are: author's will of the act when carrying it out, possible object from the physical and also legal point of view, and solemnity of the law. The latter is only required if the act is solemn; a declaration of the will is made against the law in the act itself (it is necessary in marriages and signing of wills, among other acts).

In some cases there are exceptions that, even if the above-mentioned fundamental requirements had been met, could render the act invalid. They are contemplated in the legislature of each Nation and in each one they have different characteristics. In any case, in most it is stated that for an act to be valid it is necessary consent and object (essential for a contract to exist) and it can be declared invalid if the incapacity of some of the signing parties is proven, if the object that stars it is illegal or if there is any alteration of said contract that contravenes the laws. If there are no obstacles to the completion of the contract, then the legal act is signed, which obliges both parties to comply with what was signed while assuming the consequences that due to the nature of the act signed could arise, according to the law that protects them.